ARC RISE FANTASIA ARTICLES

August 13, 2010 - Confession: Until Arc Rise Fantasia I've never played more than an hour of any Japanese RPG. It's not that I hate them, but rather that I've never been that intrigued by their art-style and what appeared, to me, to be a very slow style of play.

July 20, 2010 - Arc Rise Fantasia casts a powerful spell on Wii as it summons a traditional and definitive JRPG experience unlike anything currently available for the console. At the heart of the journey is the reluctant hero L'Arc, who must rally friends and allies to defend the peaceful Meridian Empire from attack. The newly formed party of adventurers soon finds itself with much bigger problems, as the assault on the Meridian Empire soon gives way to a battle for the face of the planet. Arc Rise Fantasia packs an inventory full of memorable characters and locations, as well as strategic combat and a truly epic storyline.

July 1, 2010 - "Arc Rise Fantasia truly fills a gap in the Nintendo Wii library," said Nigel Fox, European Head of Publishing for UTV Ignition Entertainment. "It offers a solid JRPG experience for longtime fans of the genre, but also serves as a perfect way to introduce Wii owners to deeper, more engrossing video games. So many people bought Wii so they could work out, but are missing out on games like Arc Rise Fantasia, which offers the drama of a soap opera and imaginative settings of a great film."

June 28, 2010 - School's out and you don't want to bake on the beach. No sweat, literally -- Nintendo and its third party publishers have got you covered so you can spend your hot days indoors enjoying the cool refreshing climate of your central air system with some engaging videogame experiences. We've gone through the release schedule over the next three months and pulled out some key Wii titles you should be keeping your eye on.

April 30, 2010 - Arc Rise Fantasia's cast of unique characters is led by L'Arc, a mercenary of the Meridian Empire. As L'Arc gallantly battles dragons with fellow soldiers, he finds himself rescued by Ryfia, a Diva from the Turmelian Republic, which is at war with the Meridian Empire, and together they embark on a perilous journey. However apprehensive L'Arc may be about his pre-destined path, his companions Prince Alf and fellow mercenary Niko, help him find his way.

March 30, 2010 - Arc Rise Fantasia reveals the unique pasts of these anime-inspired archetypes as players battle through a world of exploding monsters, magic orbs and bittersweet romance. A thrilling narrative rises as alliances form and parties assemble. Told within gorgeously animated cut scenes, as well as manga-inspired 2D dialogue sequences, the story deepens and unfolds in unexpected ways. This is the classic, sweeping storyline that JRPG fans have been craving.

March 5, 2010 - It's been well over a year since we last saw Arc Rise Fantasia at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show. The traditional Japanese role-playing game was released in its homeland last summer and will be arriving stateside later this year. We recently played through the first hour or so and are starting to get a sense of what the story and battle system are like. If you played Luminous Arc on the Nintendo DS, Arc Rise Fantasia comes from the same developer. Composer Yasunori Mutsuda, of Chrono Trigger and Xenogears fame, provides the soundtrack.

June 19, 2009 - Platinum Games' first game was Mad World. It was exclusively released to Western markets, meaning the Japan-based studio didn't get to see the fruit of their long work on their own soil.

June 11, 2009 - As the conference unfolded at the Los Angeles Convention Center June 2-4, we kept a running tally of our favorite games on a big white board in our IGN E3 Command Center. When a new title blew us away, we wrote it down. When something surprised us, we wrote it down. When a behind-closed-doors demo made us want to get our wallets out and buy the game right then and there, we wrote it down.

May 1, 2009 - The 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo has ditched its lower-key approach from previous years and is supposed to put the "big" back into the "big show" once again. Scheduled to run from June 2-4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, E3 2009 showcases several of the year's hottest games from the industry's most powerful publishers and developers.

March 6, 2009 - Set your Wii to import, kids, the Japanese Wii is getting another big RPG in just a few months. Marvelous announced a final Japanese release date today for Arc Rise Fantasia. The Image Epoch RPG will hit the Wii's home turf on June 4.

January 21, 2009 - In case you haven't realized it, Nintendo has the number one videogame console and the number one videogame handheld in North America. That's a pretty significant place to be: systems sold equals gamers to cater to, and Nintendo's got tens of million gamers to make happy in 2009.